Weather predictions for our 2 night stay on the tropical island Ile Sainte Marie had been grim with clouds and rain predicted to move in from the east. We were looking at contingency plans to move back to the drier west coast. Thankfully that didn't happen and we all agreed that island lifestyle was what we wanted the most right now.
We stayed at Boraha Village, a lodge on the shores of the Indian Ocean, sheltered by a vast coral reef.
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| The lodge had a long jetty out over the shallow water with a sunbathing deck at the end |
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| We have arrived in paradise |
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| Bungalow accommodation overlooking the sea |
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| The views from the bungalows |
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| Great rooms with mosquito nets |
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| Marc pilot of Sling SAA and myself at the end of the jetty |
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| A passing dugout canoe |
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| Getting some sunshine and tan and many many rum drinks |
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| ah, this is the island life |
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| Welcome to our bit of world |
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| The Durban pilots getting trashed on rum |
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| We took a swim out to the buoy about 300m offshore |
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| My shadow on the jetty |
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| Ile Sainte Marie - it's a tropical island off Madagascar |
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| We tried every cocktail on the menu |
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| We did the responsible thing and rode around the island on quad bikes after many cocktails |
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| We did a little curio shopping |
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| The island shops |
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| Quad bike up the island in search of lunch.. and we found amazing langoustines and fresh fish prepared for R100 a head!! |
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| Quad biking up the coast of the island |
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| Our spot of paradise for lunch on Ile Sainte Marie |
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| Dugout canoes were all along the shore and out at sea |
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| Neighbouring hotel's jetty |
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| A local village |
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| Little shops alongside the road |
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| Back at our hotel |
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| We're leaving this beautiful island 60 km x 4 km big/small, and flying back over the sea for 30 mins to reconnect with the main island of Madagascar |
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| After take-off we flew up the east side of the island to say goodbye to our hosts who were waving to us from the jetty |
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| Madagascar shoreline as we converge to head back inland and to the west coast of Madagascar |
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| A few clouds as we pass back over the mountain ridge where we had been a few days earlier as we route over Antananarivo to the west coast |
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| Our routing was past Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, but ATC advised this was prohibited airspace and asked us to fly over the airport, then route left for the coast and Morondava where we were headed for the night. The runway can be seen on the other side of the lake and we flew over it at 6500 ft altitude. |
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